Gods and stories

Titans, Giants and the First Mortals

Wars in heaven, and the making and punishing of humankind

Greek creation stories begin with violence: the Titans overthrow the first gods, and Zeus and the Olympians overthrow the Titans and then defeat the Giants. Mortals arrive in the middle of this struggle, made by Prometheus and burdened by Pandora.

• Battles of gods against monsters gave artists a licence for twisting, colossal bodies.
• Prometheus and Pandora explain why humans have fire, and why they suffer.
• Later painters linked Pandora with Eve and the Flood with Noah.

Gigantomachy

The war between the Olympian gods and the Giants, a favourite subject for temple sculpture.

Titanomachy

The earlier war in which Zeus and his siblings defeated the Titans.

Works in this part

• Sala dei Giganti (Room of the Giants)
• The Fall of the Titans
• The Fall of Phaeton
• Pergamon Altar: Athena Fighting the Giants
• Hydria with Zeus Fighting Typhon
• The Myth of Prometheus
• Prometheus Bound
• Eva Prima Pandora
• The Deluge

Image: Wikimedia Commons · Public domain